Do This First to Create Psychological Safety

There’s a lot of talk about psychological safety in the management and safety literature. I’m worried that it’s going to fall into the same bin with safety culture. I got to the point of cringing when I heard, “We need to fix the safety culture,” as the answer to every human related problem. Now it’s, “We have to increase psychological safety.”

They are both important but exactly how to do either of those is a mystery to most people. There are individuals like Adrienne Kelbie  who have demonstrated how to do this (Listen to her here). However, it seems too difficult for most managers, supervisors and technical professionals to follow their advice. When you read this abbreviated list, I am sure you will understand why it is so difficult.

• Look each person in the eye and say hello or good morning and use their name.
• Get to know a little about employees on the personal side. Share some of your own interests.
• Engage in monthly conversations with direct reports for at least an hour. There’s a model to follow in these conversations, if you are interested.
• Help people develop for their next position. Support them in personal development as well as professional.
• Last but not least, listen mindfully. It is the greatest gift that you can give anyone. Employees all over the world listed this as the most important action that makes them feel they are included and belong.

This article explains why these actions are successful Do This One Thing to Change Your Culture.

It isn’t the actions that are so difficult per se. What is hard is to embrace the beliefs and intent behind them. We need to make a complete turnaround from our mechanistic view of the person. We are not machines. We are aware.

Consequently, leaders don’t just talk about responsibility, accountability, and values. They feel them and live them. They aren’t mindlessly practicing behaviors. “It is behavior plus: behavior plus consciousness, behavior plus choice, and behavior plus conscience.” (Peter Koestenbaum)

You can get more recommendations from my new book The Relationship Factor in Safety Leadership.

Why should we take this advice?

During the last 25 years, I engaged in interviews, focus groups, culture assessments and using almost every model for organizational change. After you do this long enough you don’t have to do organizational assessments anymore. The cause of failure is so consistent that you could take the last assessment you did at a troubled organization, change the name and use it for the next one. Some of the consulting companies do this and earn good money. Here are a few common themes:

• They don’t listen to us.
• They don’t care about us.
• They don’t trust us and we don’t trust them.
• If only they had asked our opinion before they implemented the new system.
• Managers don’t stick around long enough to learn the business. They seem more interested in their next promotion than their current job.

Each of these statements have implications. There is lack of respect, inclusion and recognition. These are all basic human needs, and when they are missing it is very difficult to perform at your best. The social needs are as important as food and shelter and money. At a certain point a person may earn enough money that they will leave because of unfulfilled social needs.

It struck me in my personal development that fear is the primary reason relationships break down. Since acceptance and recognition are survival needs, we approach each social interaction with a certain amount of fear of rejection. I have often heard this from safety professionals and managers. If I walk out and talk to people, what will happen is I can’t deliver what they need? I don’t want to raise expectations. I don’t want to appear incompetent because I don’t know the answer. There’s also the mistaken belief that it’s not my job to build relationships. I don’t have time for chitchat, I’ve got work to do.

That could be one of the biggest fallacies in personal or business life. When we don’t consciously build relationships, we are ignoring how much we need them. Some of us were raised to avoid them because they could only lead to disappointment or messy situations, especially at work. Yet, we consistently hear from successful leaders that people are the most important element of their success. So, they go about making sure that they know that they are recognized, valued and heard.

Psychological safety allows us to pursue relationship building in spite of the fear of rejection

People who are able to create psychological safety for others have figured out how to create it within themselves. It can be a long and painful process if you experienced many hardships. On the other hand, the way you survived an adversarial experience could be the toolbox you need to create psychological safety for others.

That has been my experience because I was raised in an atmosphere of racism, poverty and fear. It made me hyper aware of social status and what I had to do to go unnoticed or fit in. I became successful at school and work, but I never felt I belonged. It took me a long time to get past this hurdle even though I realized it was false and holding me back. I did not have a mentor to help me sort the truth from the lies. So, all feedback became an ordeal, rather than a helpful critique.

I used to admire friends who would ask for feedback and remain so calm and even grateful. How can we all do this because feedback is essential to maintaining positive relationships? If we are not able to ask people how we impacted them, then we will never grow. I know this all makes sense intellectually, but it is hard to pull off by sheer will. The way I create psychological safety for me is through mindfulness practice and reading books by other women who traveled a similar path. I know others can do it because I have and there are role models we can learn from.

If you have the time, you might listen to Adrienne Kelbie on the safety view show on April 1, 2021. As the CEO of the Office of Nuclear Regulations, she has a lot of power and a lot of employees. In our show she talks about how building relationships takes vulnerability. She added that she before she could do that she had to figure out how to make herself feel psychologically safe.

It is true that successful leaders create psychological safety for employees. It is their responsibility. However, to the extent that we are willing to develop our inner sense of safety, we grow our ability to do bigger and greater things. Would you be willing to take a course to learn how to do this for yourself and others?